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Brazil apex court judge overseeing corruption probe dies in plane crash

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RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian Supreme Court judge Teori Zavascki (pictured), who was overseeing the court’s investigation into a wide-ranging corruption scandal, was killed on Thursday when the plane in which he was travelling crashed, President Michel Temer said.


The 68-year-old judge was aboard a small plane that crashed into the sea off the town of Paraty, on the southern coast of the state of Riode Janeiro.


“Dear friends, we just received confirmation that my father died! Thank you all for the support,” Francisco Prehn Zavascki wrote on Facebook. He had earlier posted that his father had been on the plane.


Zavascki was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2012 by then-president Dilma Rousseff.


He was in charge of the court’s investigations into the “Lava Jato” — “Operation Car Wash” political corruption case.


Sergio Moro, the federal judge leading the prosecution, said in a press release he was “perplexed” by Zavascki’s death in the crash.


“Without him, there never would have been an ‘Operation Car Wash,”’ he added.


Dozens of politicians are being investigated over links and kickbacks centred on state oil company Petrobras in what is considered the largest such case in Brazilian history.


The court is investigating allegations of a system of bribes paid to politicians by companies interested in obtaining contracts with Petrobras.


Among the accused are several Temer allies in his conservative Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).


Even former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers’ Party (PT) is expected to face several trials on corruption and money-laundering allegations linked to “Lava Jato.”


Temer declared three days of national mourning for Zavascki.


— dpa


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